Display apparatus.



No. 743,128. PATPNTPD Nov. s, A903.y P.W00D BR1DGE. Y DISPLAY APPARATUS.

APPLIOTION FILED APR. 7, 1902. N0 MODEL.

. y WW 5 L l AIN lllllmllll-lllvl---am 'HAHAHAHA n wmv 355s gi/4% Frank Woodbridge UNITED STATES Patented November 3, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK VOODBRIDGE, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

DISPLAY APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,128, dated November 3, 1903.

Application filed April 7, 1902- Serial No. 101,622. (No model-l To all whom it may con/cern,.-

Beit known that I, FRANK WOODBEIDGE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Display Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a mechanism for intermittingly changing a digsplay-card upon which items of interest may be placed, the apparatus being such that the cards will be successively displayed and suddenly withdrawn from exposed to unexposed position and automatically returned into position where they may be again exposed.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my in vention. i

Figure 1 is a side elevation with the side of the cabinet removedand a vertical section made through the center of the faceplate. Fig. 2 is a front elevation with onehalf of the face-plate removed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail of the card-shifting mechanism.

In the drawings, 10 indicates a suitable inclosing casing, invthe upper end of which I mount at each side` a downwardly and forwardly inclined track 11, which connects at its forward end with a substantially vertical guide or track 12, which at its lower end connects with a downwardly and rearwardly inclined track 13. Extending across the upper end of the casing at the rear end of the tracks 11 is a shaft 14, carrying a pair of sprocketwheels 15, and vertically beneath the shaft 14 at the rear end of the tracks 13` is a shaft 16, carrying sprocket-wheels 17 The sprocket -wheels 15 and 17 are connected by link belts 13, two in number, each of which carries one or more card-receiving hooks 19. The shaft 16 is driven by means of a link belt 20, connected to a suitable sprocket-wheel carried on a shaft 21,which shaft carries a gear 22, driven by a worm-gear 23, carried by the armature-shaft 24 of a small motor 25. A plurality of display-cards 26 is provided, each of said cards being provided at its upper end with a cross-bar 27, the ends of which are adapted to engage and lie within tracks 11, 12, and 13, the'lowermost bar in the track 13 coming against a suitable vertical stop 28.

`The upper end of track 11 is provided with a guard 29, and opposite this guard I arrange a spring 30, the free end of which extends up toward and beyond the open upper end of track 11. Mounted in track 12, at the upper end thereof and immediately adjacent the lower end of track 11, is a spring 31, the free end of which projects downwardly and inwardly, Jdie arrangement being such that these springs will normally prevent the passage of the bar 27 of a display-card from track 11 into the vertical guide 12, so that said card will be held immediately opposite a displayopening 32, formed in the face-plate of the casing 10. Mounted above spring 31 and in line with track 12 is a plunger 33, which may be reciprocated by a lever 34, the rear end of which projects toward belt 1S in position to be engaged by the bar-receiving hooks 19 thereof,'the said hooks operating to throw lever 34 against the action of a spring 35, which normally tends to withdraw plunger 33 to the position shown inFig. 3.

Secured to the front end of the armatureshaft 24 of the motor is a head 36, which carries at its forward end a disk 37. Freely rotatable upon head 36 is a sleeve 3S, which car ries back of disk 37 a disk 39, which, with disk37, forms a color-changing apparatus, described and claimed in my divisional application, Serial No. 123,994.

The operation is as'follows, a plurality of display-cards having been first arranged in tracks 11 and 13, with one of said displaycards held opposite opening 32 by means of springs 31: Upon a rotation of the armatureshaft the several belts will be driven in the direction indicated by the arrows, and one pair of hooks19 will come up beneath the rod 27 of that display-card which is lowermost in tracks 13 and lift said display-card, carrying it upward past guard 29 and into engagement with spring 30, which spring operates to throw the card from the hooks as soon as its rod 27 passes the upper end of track 1,1. A continued movement of the belt brings hooks 19 into engagement with lever 34 and causes plunger 33 to engage the rod of that display-card lowermost in tracks 11 and push the same past springs 31, so that display-card will drop immediately downward along guides 12 and into the upper end of track 13, the succeeding display-card in tracks 11 immediately dropping down against springs 31 and into visible position.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a display apparatus, the combination with a suitable casing, of a pair of opposed downwardly and forwardly inclined tracks 11 vertical guides 12 extending downward from the lower ends thereof, a pair of opposed downwardly and rearwardly inclined tracks 13 connecting with the lower end of the vertical guide, a plurality of display-cards having cross-bars adapted to travel in said tracks and guide, an endless carrier 18 connecting the rear ends of the tracks, hooks 19 carried by the carrier, a spring 31 arranged at the lower end of each track 11, a pair of plungers adapted to engage the card cross-bars and force the same past the springs, means for intermittently operating the plungers, means for driving the carrier, and means for throwing the card-bars from the carrier into tracks 11.

2. In a display apparatus, the combination with a suitable casing, of a pair of opposed downwardly and forwardly inclined tracks ll, vertical guides l2 extending downward from the lower ends thereof, a pair of opposed downwardly and rearwardly inclined tracks 13 connecting with the lower end of the vertical guide, a plurality of display-cards having cross-bars adapted to travel in said tracks and guide, an endless carrier 18 connecting the rear ends of the tracks, hooks 19 carried by the carrier, a spring 31 arranged at the lower end of each track 11, a pair of plungers adapted to engage the card cross bars and force the same past the springsfmeans for intermittently operating the plungers, means for driving the carrier, and a spring 30 arranged opposite the upper end of each track 11, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a display apparatus, the combination, with a suitable casing, of a pair `of opposed downwardly and forwardly inclined tracks, Vertical guides extending downward from the lower ends thereof, a pair of opposed downwardly and rearwardly inclined tracks 13 connecting with the lower end of the vertical guides, a plurality of display-cards having cross-bars adapted to travel in said tracks and guides, an endless carrier connecting the rear ends of the tracks, hooks carried by the carrier, means for normally retaining displaycards in both sets of tracks with one of said cards normally at the lower end of each set of tracks, means for intermittently propelling one of said cards past said retaining means at the lower end of the upper tracks whereby said card may fall through the vertical guides to the lower tracks, and means for discharging the display-cards from the hooks of the endless carrier into the upper ends of the upper tracks, for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 2d day of April, A. D. 1902.

FRANK WOODBRIDGE Witnesses:

JAMES A. WALSH, ARTHUR M. Hoon. 

